For a well-thought-out link marketing strategy, the strategic selection of link targets is one of the most important decisions. Many companies tend to simply link to their most important products or "sales pages". This often not only misses the goal, but also risks receiving a penalty from Google. Since the choice of link targets can determine the success or failure of a website, we will go into detail on the following points in this article:

  • Basic thoughts on landing page types
  • Using various KPIs
  • The importance of the informational area

Landing Page Types

Homepage

The homepage is one of the most important and natural link targets. When newspapers or press portals write about your company, they typically link to your homepage using your brand name. To replicate this naturalness in active link building, homepage links should always be included in your planning. In addition, the homepage is also a good link target for distributing link power across your website. The most important categories and products are usually linked from the homepage. Since link power is also passed on through internal links to other pages of your website, you indirectly strengthen those important pages with the links you place to the homepage.

Categories

Linking to categories is particularly popular with shops. This page type is often optimised for the strongest keywords you most want to rank for. However, especially with online shops, you should not overdo it here, as these transactional landing pages are often very conspicuous. Almost no external site would naturally link to this type of landing page – while it may be important to you, it offers little content to readers. Any competitor or even Google can quickly recognise that this is an actively placed link and therefore violates Google's guidelines. You should therefore be very careful not to overdo link building for pure "product overview" pages. Good content should be created in advance that can justify linking to such a page.

Hub Pages (Distribution Pages)

These pages play a particularly important role for larger websites, as their deeper purpose is to channel link power through internal linking into specific areas of the website. Hub pages are created for specific topics – for a fashion shop, these might be things like "spring fashion", "summer fashion" or "party outfits". Essentially, they are topic areas that have search volume but are not found in the main navigation. These pages link internally to important landing pages or products, allowing you to distribute the link power you collect through external links very effectively. Especially if you want to strengthen many different categories or products but do not have the budget to link all of them, such a "distribution page" is an excellent link target.

Informational Link Targets

By informational pages, we mean blog, guide or magazine pages – pages that have no direct sales intent. If you include these pages in your link building strategy, they represent the most natural links you can build. A link to a guide or magazine article is a very natural link, because it is easy to understand why the external webmaster placed it – it offers added value to the reader. Informational link targets are therefore rarely questioned by Google. Of course, links to the informational area have the disadvantage that you do not want to rank with the guide and there is usually no purchase intent here either. However, through good internal linking, you can pass on the link power to where you actually want it.

Relevant KPIs for Selecting Link Targets

When budgets are tight and the product range is large, companies often find it difficult to decide on the right link targets. We will mention a few metrics that can help you in your decision-making:

  1. Revenue

    Especially at the start of link building, the focus should be on the areas that currently generate the most revenue and where costs can be recouped most quickly. Therefore, when planning the link marketing strategy, you should first carefully evaluate which areas or products convert best and where the average basket values are highest.

  2. Competition

    Smaller websites in particular often make the mistake of targeting highly competitive keywords. Tools such as Keyword Planner or Keywordtool.io provide good guidance on search volume and competition. Especially at the start of your link marketing strategy, try not to focus solely on the largest landing pages with the highest search volumes, but also link to landing pages that are more specific and where you therefore have a better chance of reaching page 1 on Google more quickly.

    Keyword Search Volume Competition (100 = max)
    4K TV 135,000 100
    4K TV 55 inch 4,440 89

    Especially for weaker shops that are not yet very well established, it makes sense to target the more specific keyword at the beginning.

  3. Threshold Keywords

    This term describes keywords that are just about to jump into traffic-relevant territory – i.e. page one on Google. If you want to achieve quick results, it makes sense to first look at your current rankings in Google Search Console or another monitoring tool. Look for keywords with the following characteristics:

    • Ranking between 11–30
    • Keyword should be revenue-relevant
    • Keyword should have relevant traffic

    You should prioritise these keywords above all others, as you can achieve quick results here. So select landing pages on which exactly these keywords are optimised, or landing pages that already rank for these keywords.

  4. Search Volume

    Although search volume, as described in point 2, is not always the most important metric, it is often highly relevant for already established online portals. If a website has already built up a certain authority and achieved many good rankings, strong and highly competitive keywords should also be included as link targets. The website is now strong enough to hold its own against competitive keywords.

The Importance of Informational Link Targets

As hinted at in the definition of landing page types, the informational area plays a central long-term role in link building strategy. If you carry out active link building over a long period and always strengthen the same pages, an unnatural distribution of incoming links will develop. Your website will then show so-called "link peaks", which are also referred to as a "fingerprint". Such a link profile is conspicuous and unnatural, and you risk getting on Google's radar, which in the worst case can lead to a penalty. To avoid this while still strengthening your most important pages, the following approach is recommended:

  1. Select a transactional landing page that you would like to strengthen further, but which already has a very high number of links. Further active link building here could potentially be critical.

  2. In line with the topic of the chosen landing page, create 3–4 informational guide articles that are interesting to the reader and represent a good link target.

  3. In each of these guide articles, include an internal link pointing to your transactional landing page.

  4. When you then carry out link building for the 3–4 guides, the link power will be passed on through internal links to the transactional landing page you actually want to strengthen.

This has several advantages:

  • You can strengthen the transactional page without creating a fingerprint
  • You have very natural link targets
  • You build authority with Google by covering the topic comprehensively through guide articles
  • Even for publishers who do not want to link to transactional pages, you now have suitable link targets

Conclusion

To carry out sustainable link building without appearing on Google's radar, you should spread your link targets broadly. Do not link to just one or two pages, but distribute the links across the entire website. Link to different page types such as:

  • Homepage
  • Categories
  • Hub pages
  • Guide articles

If you regularly vary your link targets and spread them broadly overall, channelling link power through internal links to where you want it, this strategy will lead you to long-term success!

Link Building SEO Strategy